PERFORMANCE BETWEEN RIGOR AND INSTINCT

Transcription

1 PERFORMANCE BETWEEN RIGOR AND INSTINCT STUDIES Rigor and Instinct in the Actor s Work Monica BROOS Abstract: This is a personal reflection on the necessities and difficulties an actor might encounter in his/her work, especially concerning the detachment from one s own personality in the search for a truthful character, for a plausible, created psychology, other than one s own. It also touches some well-known methods proposed by celebrated theatre people and is, more than anything, an attempt to open a possible discussion. It had as a background the intention to dissolve a few prejudices or some too radical positions and to throw a new light on ideas and separations which have gotten a bit old and don t seem to be functional any longer. The relationship between rigor and instinct is seen from a personal point of view that was formed through practical confrontation with the creation of character. It is based on years of experience as an actress, playing in different languages and working with different methods, but it has also been written from the perspective of a passionate theatre spectator and of a reader of books of and on the theatre. Keywords: truth, truthfulness, psychical, physical, memory, creative individuality. Do We Also Have Rigours Or is it All Instincts?... Laura BILIC Abstract: The new generation of theatre people is gaining nowadays more and more autonomy from the traditional institutionalized models. The artist that unfolds his/her activity in the new millennium is often a self-educated person who must acquire organisational skills, totally focus on his/her projects and see beyond his/her writing. Drama is nowadays deeply rooted in the present, but, somehow, we might witness cases when an excessive present is harmful in our theatres (the performance Rosia Montana from a physical and political point of view at Teatrul Maghiar de Stat of Cluj, a collaboration with dramacum, a text by Peca Stefan, directed by Gianina Carbunariu, Andreea Valean and Radu Apostol and the performance A middle state of degradation at Teatru Fix of Iasi, a text by Peca Stefan, directed by Ovidiu Actress, Doctoral Student, George Enescu University of Arts, Iaşi Asistant Teacher Ph.D. at Drama Department, George Enescu University of Arts, Iasi

2 Caita). The drama of nowadays has given up its rigour of mystery, shall we witness a display of instincts? Keywords: actual, present, manifesto, mystery Theatre on Frontier. The Dialogue between Arts in Spectacular Contemporary Forms Ioana PETCU Abstract: Revolutionary or not, but certainly having an intense and lasting effect, the innovative ideas from the start of XX century in the arts area meant very much for the presentday image of theatre. The rediscovery of Orient, the dialogue with other continents, then the appetency for experimental things, the explosion of all those -isms of European avant-garde are reasons for the stage to break up the barriers, to find a new type of actor and, after all, to define itself differently. The new theories produced the awareness about the fruitful encounter of arts: musical composition, choreography, fine arts. At the same time with a logistic explosion, with adoption of European artists by the galleries and stages in United States of America, simultaneous with the apparition of international theatrical research centers, of laboratories and workshops, real pots of ideas where techniques and tendencies retrieve themselves together, in this effervescent ensemble, the theatre exceeds the classical stencil and enters a zone of heteroclite, often becoming element in an ensemble of signs, and functioning only in this formation. Today the artists do not have a single orientation and, beside their primary instruction, they explore interfacing domains. The theatre transforms. This is how Marina Abramović works with Robert Wilson, Jan Fabre is not only a plastic artist, but also a script writer and director, Jan Lauwers is educated in plastic art, but also dedicated many years to theatre, and the examples could go on. Keywords : performances, trans-diciplinarity, interdisciplinary, hyper-screen, Jan Fabre, Romeo Castellucci, Katie Mitchell. Contemporary Dance, Non-Dance, Nouvelle Danse Alba Simina STANCIU Abstract: Two movements which complete each other have appeared over the last decades in contemporary choreography, Non-dance and Nouvelle danse, two attitudes that are challenging traditionalism in dance. These are products of more artistic directions, the most important of which being the reform of the American Merce Cunningham and his influence on the French artistic territory starting with the 70s. Other sources which bring their contribution to the process of consolidation of the new dance come from the direction of the French mime tradition (Marcel Marceau, Étienne Decroux, Jacques Lecoq) and the German tantztheater. Ioana Petcu is Lecturer at Drama Department of George Enescu University of Arts, Iași. PhD, Lecturer at the Theatre Department of the Lucian Blaga University, Sibiu

3 Choreographers combine these tendencies, the body with visual arts in the performance space. New names come forth, for instance Marin Maguy, Jean Claude Gallotta, Boris Charmatz, who create strange and provocative combinations of the body and multimedia performance. Key words: contemporary choreography, multimedia performance, conceptual art, gesture, pantomime, clown, scenic movement, abstract art. Textual Space and Scenic Space in La nuit juste avant les forêts by B. M. Koltès Diana NECHIT Abstract: The present article seeks an interpretation of the textual perspective of the double stance of the theatre space: the space of representation and story, in a reference to the Koltesian drama, namely La nuit juste avant les forêts. The playwright and the textual core were chosen as an attempt to settle and shade these theoretical concepts, based on a text meant to be read rather than performed. The analysis is structured on three levels of interpretation: an historical perspective, the development of the theory of forms and theatrical techniques, as well as the continuous swinging between the textual and the dramatic supremacy; a second perspective that seeks dramatic space operation, namely, the indexes of spatial level concerning both the performance and the text behind the performance or the spatial stage directions and a final perspective regarding the arrangements for the textual outline used for building the story. Starting from spatial analysis, we also approached a definition of the Koltesian character and of the narrative resort addressing its monologue in an emblematic Koltesian dramatic space: the tentacular and anguishing city that grinds its occupants. The character is seen as an outsider, a foreigner who gets lost in the urban night. Keywords: Koltès, space, performance, text, urban. The Creator between Individual Coloratura and the Stage Architecture Tamara CONSTANTINESCU Abstract: The staging of a classic is also an encounter of the present with fictitious characters and conducts, which have already been invented. Stage management includes the personal interpretation suggested by the text, whereas the coordination of the components of the show is dictated by the director s own aesthetics, who progressively becomes an artist with a particular style of expression. The director s task is to continuously reshape the play, in agreement with social dynamics, and thus he turns into an inventor of original stage laws. The creators endeavors to keep the great dramatic past and the great plays alive have intermingled with the incessant search for new reinterpretations and new meanings in Chekhov s work. Stage practice has supported the assumption according to which only a bad play may be staged in a single manner, whereas a good play is able to give rise to endless interpretations. This is also the Ph.D., Associate Professor, Theatrical Arts Department, Faculty of Letters and Arts, Lucian Blaga University, Sibiu. Actress at the Fani Tardini Dramatic Theatre in Galaţi PhD, Associate Professor at the George Enescu University of Arts, Iaşi, editor of Theatrical Colloquia

4 case with A. P. Chekhov s Cherry Orchard. One of the memorable interpretations of this play dates back to February 6, 1985, when the director György Harag came to the National Theater of Târgu Mureş to lay the foundations of his last directing job (he did not know that at the time!). In July 1985, while visiting Romania for a few days, Lucian Pintilie sees Harag s enactment, which he finds absolutely fabulous. A few years later, more precisely in 1988, in his staging of the Cherry Orchard at Arena Stage in Washington, Pintilie gives (yet again!) the full measure of his unmistakable personal style, his own manner of staging classical plays in a mysteriously modern way. Key words: Chekhov, Cherry Orchard, Giorgio Strehler, György Harag, Lucian Pintilie The Complexity of Theatrical Performance Irina DABIJA, Elena CIORTESCU Abstract: Combining several individual arts such as poetry, dance, pantomime, painting and music, theatrical performance is undoubtedly one of the most complex cultural acts which involves the presence of actors and audience, being thus based on real-time action. Its complexity implies the presence of authenticity and creativity in the process of designing and achieving it; otherwise, their absence would trigger a lack in diversity and variety. Creativity appeals to and is, to a certain extent, based on every human being s instinct while rigour is primarily related to the written and unwritten rules, to the education and training provided by study, experience, traditions, nationality, culture, religion, social status. Authenticity stems from the uniqueness of theatrical performance, its singularity being given by the fact that no representation will be identical either to a previous or a subsequent one. Key words: authenticity, complexity, creativity. Symbol And Metamorphosis In The Visual Arts Mihai Cosmin IAȚEȘEN Abstract : The elaborate form whose content is structured through myth and symbol will endure in the dynamic context of development determined by the Space Time unit. The research carried out has revealed the existence on the cultural level of a multitude of symbols in the artistic productions which started from the metamorphosis of form. In the workshop the space of artistic rendition, volumes and the spectacular nature of visual expression are meant to support the implementation of the conclusions I reached, which is the concept of form metamorphosed three-dimensionally. Among the preliminary objectives I set out in my research Irina Dabija First Degree Teacher at Palatul Copiilor Iasi, PhD in Philology, Associate Lecturer at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Al.I.Cuza University, Iasi Elena Ciortescu Lecturer, PhD in Philology, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, "Al. I. Cuza" University of Iasi. PhD, Assistant Professor, George Enescu University of Arts, Iaşi

5 of form metamorphosed in the visual arts, the following are essential: detailed observation of some aspects connected with visual metamorphosis of some elements of expressiveness in the 19th century and early 20th century; detailed interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary analysis of visual expression, of the spatial and temporal context in which it is metamorphosed by the creators, and of the concept of background; transgressive comparison of the change of aesthetic and stylistic benchmarks, starting right from the fundamental structuring of some elements of morphology which belong to the archetypes of form; highlighting the role and importance of myth in the construction of symbolic form; the assessment of the value of symbol in the transmission of visual message through the emblematic importance of form in a certain spatial and temporal context; looking into some reciprocities with regard to metamorphosis as a specific bivalent process determined by the stimulus of movement; vast approaches to visual metamorphoses of forms in the creations of some representatives of the trends and movements animated and supported by the artistic manifestations of the first half of the 20th century; adequate implementation and readaptation, through my own interpretation, of some consecrated sculptural concepts in the sphere of personal creation. I developed the platform of the research content through a relation to some benchmarks in the history of art, which I deemed relevant to the theme of my research. The journey into the ancestral spaces of some vanished civilizations brings about topics related to myths, archetypes and symbols, these being the foundations upon which the creators developed metamorphosed forms of most striking visual expressivenss in world culture. In the visual arts, metamorphosis implies a complex process. The concept manifesto, correlated with the surrealist view of language platforms working in a manner adapted to visual art dicourse: the knowledge of rendering the human figure, the landscape, the anatomic peculiarities of an animal or or the specifics of a building; transforming one form into another form; the transformation of the artist s personality, which is determinig in the creation process; the involvement of temporality and spatiality; the reprise of concepts crystallized in the works of consecrated artists and relating them to the stylistic data of the contemporary historical context through functionality and aesthetic motivation; the symbolic, archetypal and ludic character of the ensemble, which is meant to give an atemporal value to the creation through delving into the ancestral fabulous and imaginary as an effect of primitivism in the 20th century; the valorization of mythology and legends, originary sources for the diversifucation of themes and the amplification of expressive force in buiding the visual message; looking into expressionism at the border between abstract and figurative (with stressed deformations), through shedding light on the motif or generating cell, which developed towards metamorphosed form. The remarkable importance of the sculpture which renewed the means of expression in the 20th century is a result of these multiple possibilities of expression given by the metamorphosis of form in space. Key words: form; metamorphosis; symbol; sculpture; space. Narativity in Theatre Start.research@UAGE

6 Adrian BULIGA Abstract: Narrative is important in art and one person show; either going on writing version, whether it deals with non-verbal way, the show is a story and the actor tells a story. There is an opinion stating that a story to be compelling must give birth to mental images. If recently the one person show took a so large scale on the world stage, this may be due to the fact that modern man feels the essential feelings call, far from any antics and virtuosities. Theatre cannot be accepted from this wave and is forced to acquire the specific language because it is not sufficient the expression of disparate images. Picture narrative professionals designed a set of proposals towards better communication of a message. Based on the concept of scriptwriting, the actor or director develops individual characters, creating a world stage with its own rules and causal relationships. Light in the performance needs fluency, mystery. The light should not only reveal, but rather to know what and how to hide. Theatrical space thus becomes a world with its own rules (graphics, compositional, mechanical); we develop spaces and spatial rhythms with light. The supreme goal is the ability to print light s status of a character. Key words: narativity, one person perforance, light, space. THEATER BEYOND STAGE The Premises for the Formation of Educational Theatre in Great Britain ( ) Mirela NISTOR Abstract: In order to adapt to the requirements of a modern society, starting with the 20 th Century theatre has crossed all conventional boarders: it moved outside the formal theatrical background, it emerged into new artistic fields, giving birth to new forms of art. The concept of Educational Theatre appeared for the first time in Great Britain in 1960, but the premises for the formation of Educational Theatre can be identified as back as the late 19 th, when Henrik Ibsen and George Bernard Shaw had brought back the educational part of theatre to attention. Educational Theatre owes its existence to the revolutionary pedagogy of Political Theatre. Erwin Piscator and Bertolt Brecht considered that theatre cannot and should not exist just as a superficial form of entertainment, but that it has an important social and educational mission to fulfil. Key words: Educational Theatre, Agitprop, Erwin Piscator, Bertolt Brecht, Anthony Jackson. Associated Professor - George Enescu University of Arts Iasi, Faculty of Theatre Doctoral Student, The Faculty of Theatre, George Enescu University of Arts, Iaşi

7 MEETINGS. INTERVIEWS An Unfinished Interview with Artist Nic Ularu Ioana PETCU Abstract: On an island vestured with trees, in the central zone of Iaşi city, but hidden by the blocks on Cuza Vodă Street, we met a man freshly came out from rehearsals in the National Theatre, and he had the grace to answer affirmatively to our invitation to stay an hour or two for a dialogue with the Theatrical Colloquia magazine. About theatre, film, visual arts or dramaturgy we have talked with Nic Ularu, melting the moments on voice recorder and in lemonade jugs. Our interlocution feeble interlacing of ideas tried to depict an entre deux (continents) or entre plusieurs (passions) artist, who practices the scenic act or the literary one as a challenging sport, as a lithe poetry. Keywords: intercontinental dialogue, OBIE award, Hieronymus, National Theatre in Iaşi, scenography, pluridisciplinarity. Games essential in life! Interview with lecturer Mihaela Bețiu, PhD Irina SCUTARIU Abstract: I propose you to make acquaintance with Mrs. Mihaela Bețiu, PhD, actress, lecturer at the Acting Department of the I.L. Caragiale National University of Theatre and Film Bucharest (UNTAC) where she is also manager of the Research Department and editor coordinator of the CONCEPT journal and more. In she was Pro Dean of the Faculty of Theatre. But there would be many other things to add. In 2008, she presented her Ph.D. thesis, entitled The Actor and Performance between Norm and Deviation, scientific coordinator Adriana Marina Popovici, PhD, Professor, the paper not being published yet because of the author s eagerness to move on to new projects. A sure thing is the fact that in the year 2000 she became a member of the teaching staff of UNATC, where she enthusiastically teaches theatrical pedagogy at the class coordinated by Professor Adrian Titieni. Key words: acting, CONCEPT magazine, learning process. Gong 2014 STAGE REVIEWS PhD, Lecturer at the Faculty of Theatre, George Enescu University of Arts, Iaşi Lecturer Ph.D. at Drama Department, George Enescu University of Iasi

8 Anca Doina CIOBOTARU Abstract: A new generation searches for its identity and the Iasi School of Theatre defines itself through all it does, combining restlessly the creative instinct and rigour. Their performances force you to wake up, admire them, beyond clumsiness and pride, value them and hope that they will have enough strength to live under the sign of the Art of Performance. Minodora Lungu decided to face her fears, search for herself and define her creative identity in a challenging exercise as a director. Good Night Alice is designed to catch the viewer in a web of metaphorical images and persuade him in accepting the reality of a risky balance between worlds and shades that we experience in the depths of our soul. From Silence! a young puppeteer wants to carve his own way. Yes, the 2014, class in Performing Arts is full of surprises; it is hard to choose and the choice is subjective. I let myself be caught by the silence. Iulian Lungu, dynamic, effervescent, rebel and non-conformist reveals his sensitive side - without words, in a moving speech of gestures. The puppeteer and the puppet started their journey into the world with an one-man-show marked by the vibrant pace of the unsaid, and they come to tell us a story about love, art and loneliness. Everything happens openly, no secrets. Key words: dance theatre, marionette, syncretism. Bachelor of Arts and Master s Degrees Emil COŞERU Abstract: The 2014 Master of Arts examination, summer session, went off accordingly from the point of view of the one who had undertaken the task to assure its successful conclusion. Let s call it a stage of promotion for the future actors who are willing to specialize in the context of the E.U.-3x2x3 regulations. Now, at a road s end, one ought to discuss the notion of a Master s study in Performing Arts. It is a two year stage, according to the norms in force. How can we cover it? It is a matter we are all preoccupied with. Keywords: exam, acting, one man (woman) show. Ridi Pagliaccio! A performance about one s soul, life, profession and ardent passion Anca CIOFU Associate Professor Ph.D. at the Drama Departement, George Enescu University of Arts, Iași, author of many articles and studies, puppeteer. Professor, PhD, George Enescu University of Arts, Iaşi PhD, Lecturer, The Faculty of Theatre, George Enescu University of Arts, Iaşi

9 Abstract: Ridi Pagliaccio!, as the show was called, is a syntagm very dear to her as it is the quintessence of our profession: no matter how you feel, how sad or depressed you are, you, the actor, should always be happy and playful on stage!... Ilinca managed to bring together in a very skilfull manner the three main acting characteristics: the art of acting, of shadow puppetry and marionette manipulation. She also expressed poetically the (intimate, I may say!) relationship between the puppeteer and the puppet, the manipulator and the object that is being manipulated. Key words: Ilinca Istrate, Ridi Pagliaccio!, one-woman-show, marionette manipulation No joking with marionettes... The Sunshine by Al. T. Popescu Anca CIOFU Abstract: The creators of the recital have chosen the classic screen for their short wired marionettes staging, imagining the basement belonging to a family of artists. The well written text is given depth by the excellently chosen musical highlights and by the movement and action created through the expressive attitudes of the marionettes. The setting, with occasional embossed bricks, the window which acts as a shadow screen (in the scene the scary cat appears) can only fill the performance s special atmosphere under the warm, intimate light of a single projector. Key words: O rază de soare, Al. T. Popescu, marionette recital From Cervantes novel to the puppet show The Last Don Quijote Aurelian BĂLĂIȚĂ Abstract: Based on the novel The Skilful Hidalgo Don Quijote of la Mancha written by Miguel de Cervantes, we have done the puppet show The Last Don Quijote. I have maintained the main features of the characters, taking them out of the Iberian landscape and placing them in various contemporary situations, on an imaginary way around the world. The new adventures are set on stage by combining several techniques of the animation theatre, among which the means of the shadow theatre, less known, with the main quantity. The construction of the scenic image was done by using several sources of light, on both sides of the screen, among which an overhead projector. It offers a variety of possibilities. The play of proportions, the colours of the background and the details form, together with the scenic dynamics, the dramatic tissue. The technique requires both the study of the procedures of theatre scenic transposition, and some cinema techniques. The four actresses who form a homogenous cast, a team, are facing an exercise of non-verbal scenic expressiveness, in order to gain the mastery in the art of the animation theatre. Key words: Cervantes, Don Quijote, shadow theatre, puppets, animation theatre. PhD, Lecturer, The Faculty of Theatre, George Enescu University of Arts, Iaşi University PhD profesor, University of Arts George Enescu Iasi

10 REVIEWS Compulsory Readings in the Yorick Collection Alexandra-Ioana CANTEMIR Summary: Any revisiting of a piece of writing holds forth a process of reevaluation of both the written material and the echoes it has in the reader s conscience. The second meeting with a text that is challenging through its denial of finite, one-fits-all answers, but rather creates one s need to ask (themselves) new questions would be rendered less significant the moment one has the feeling of having already come upon and grasped the meanings of said writing. Stanislavski, Grotowski and Brook are bound by their urge to search and the inability to be content with the answers they came upon. One s first contact with the texts in which they describe their thoughts on theatre is usually due to the compulsory readings lists of every theatre academy their rereading is truly necessary. Key words: Stanislavski, Grotowski, Brook The Identity of Theatrical Dance Ligia GROZDAN, Elena SAULEA Abstract: Aiming optimization of the future professional dance actor, we explore the relationship between dance and physicality, expressive body ritual theater, theater from Antiquity and reaching Artaud, Grotowsky and men. We follow the most important moments in modern theater pedagogy from Stanislavski and Craig R. Wilson Dalcroze and with a focus on Biomechanics Meyerhold's theater. Key words: dance, nonverbal communication, biomechanics. Doctoral student, George Enescu University of Arts, Iaşi Elena Sualea is PhD, Professor at The National University of Theatre and Film I.L.Caragiale, Bucharest Ligia Grozdan is Ph.D., Lecturer at Drama Department at George Enescu University of Arts, Iasi